Navarre Real Estate Analysis

Navarre is an unincorporated community in Santa Rosa County in the Northwest Florida Panhandle. It is a bedroom community for mostly U.S. Military personnel, Federal Civil Servants, local population, retiree’s and defense contractors. Additionally, due to it’s close proximity to Navarre Beach and its 4 miles of beach front on the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Gulf Islands National Seashore it has a small community of nature enthusiasts and tourists.
Navarre is about 25 miles east of Pensacola and about 15 miles west of Fort Walton Beach. The community is roughly centered on the junction of U.S. Route 98 and State Road 87.Navarre is known for the untarnished natural beauty, boutique shopping, swimming in the emerald colored water, having a picnic on the beach or in the county park and riding or jogging on the several scenic bike paths.
The founder of Navarre was Guy Wyman, a colonel in the United States Army. Wyman was in World War I where he met a French nurse named Noel. At the time, immigration policies would not allow him to bring her to the United States as a fiancé or even as a wife, but he could bring her back as his legal child. So he adopted her, and brought her back to the Florida panhandle, where he purchased a large amount of land. Noel named their holdings Navarre, after the province in Spain near France. Wyman platted the town in 1925,but made no steps towards development. However, during the Great Depression, the Wymans couldn’t pay the taxes on it, and were forced to begin selling it off. Part of that property is where the Navarre Park is today.
Navarre is centered near the junction of U.S. Highway 98, the primary east-west route between Pensacola and the Fort Walton Beach area, and State Road 87. It is located near several large military facilities: Naval Air Station Pensacola to the west and Hurlburt Field and Eglin Air Force Base to the east.
Tourism has increased in the Navarre area, leading the community to declare itself “Florida’s Best Kept Secret.” A boardwalk, a park (with water playground), a duck pond, and butterfly house are located near the bridge to Navarre Beach, which is immediately across Santa Rosa Sound to the south. Surfing, jet skiing, paddle boarding, fishing, beach volleyball, bike riding, jogging/walking, bird watching and scenic trails are popular among the residents.